Three high school classmates win top honors at national language competition
全國語文競賽 竹北高中三冠王

Three National Chupei Senior High School students pose with the school principal, right, and two teachers after the students won first place in a national language completion in Hsinchu County on Dec. 3.三位國立竹北高中學生拿全國語文競賽冠軍後，十二月三日在新竹縣與校長（右）及指導老師合照。

Photo: Huang Mei-chu, Liberty Times照片：自由時報記者黃美珠

Students from Hsinchu County’s National Chupei Senior High School took top honors in two of the main five divisions of the Competition of National Languages that recently ended. The three champions included two high school juniors — Chung Wen-ting and Chuang Yung-chun — and one sophomore — Chu Sai-yu, winning first place in Chinese essay writing and reading aloud Hakka and the Aboriginal language Saisiyat respectively, bringing glory to Hsinchu County.

Chung, who commutes from Baoshan Township to Jhubei Township every day for school, also won top honors in a national contest in elementary school. She expounded upon the essay topic — “a future without limits” — by discussing Chinese Song Dynasty poet Su Shih, herself and Nick Vujicic, a handicapped Australian motivational speaker and writer.

Chung is shy and modest. She believes that by having dreams, love and courage people can have a future without limits.

She used the anecdote of Su Shih never getting discouraged after he was banished from the capital, continuing to dream of returning to the capital and working as a poet, writing verses that have stood the test of time. Chung says that her family’s love, her friends’ support and the admiration of her teachers have given her confidence about her future’s limitless possibilities.

Without arms or legs, Vujicic’s bravery has allowed him to overcome the disability of having no limbs, and his book Life without Limits is even more inspirational. Chung used these three examples to express her thoughts regarding the topic.

Chuang grew up in the countryside. He was given the topic which he feared most — “birch seed kids” — which is the story of an author recalling the destitute times of his childhood, when he and his elder brother cleverly used a product of nature. By planting birch seeds, they eventually make traditional spinning tops from the wood once the trees have grown. Since he did not grow up during that era, Chuang was afraid he would not be able to read the story in such a way that tugged at people’s heartstrings.

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. anecdote n.

軼事；趣聞 (yi4 shi4; qu4 wen2)

例: Bonny told them the anecdote about the cat and the monkey again.

(巴妮再次告訴他們關於貓與猴子的軼事。)

2. discourage v.

氣餒；灰心 (qi4 nei3; hui1 xin1)

例: Losing the contest did not discourage her from competing again the next year.

(她並未因輸了比賽而灰心，隔年再度參加比賽。)

3. bittersweet adj.

苦樂參半的 (ku3 le4 can1 ban4 de5)

例: Playing in the championship before retiring from basketball the following year was bittersweet because they lost.

(在隔年將從籃球圈退休前參加冠軍賽卻輸球，令她苦樂

參半。)

Chu hails from the Saisiyat tribal village near Hsiangtien Lake in Miaoli County’s Nanjhuang Township. Being able to speak a language that is on the verge of extinction, Chu feels like she must shoulder the responsibility of carrying on the language. Winning first place in the Competition of National Languages was therefore both an honor and a bittersweet triumph for her.